Kawakita & Associates Company Policy

Kawakita & Associates was established in November 1994 by Kijuro Kawakita, with the aim of providing high quality intellectual property legal services, as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

The firm now comprises six patent attorneys, six paralegals, two in-house translator and a draughtswoman/illustrator, all carefully selected for their experience, professional qualifications, knowledge, English skill and positive attitude. Our staff collaborate with a network of skilled patent attorneys in over 30 countries, especially in theUS and Europe , and have gained an international reputation for the high quality of work to obtain the best protection for our clients’ intellectual property rights.

We provide expertise in the following areas of science and technology:

• Chemical
• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Physics – optics

At Kawakita & Associates we have the resources to handle major technical patent applications for large national and multinational corporations; however, our philosophy is to maintain a modest organization providing a personalized service to small companies and individual inventors who do not have the support of a patent department.

Domestic and International Patent Applications

Our service includes regular consultations with clients, firstly to advise on patentability based on research of prior art and evaluation of cost effectiveness. Secondly, we aim to clearly understand the clients’ business operation and objectives, to tailor the application to meet their business needs and broaden the protection scope of their intellectual property. In addition, we identify and advise on possible application to other fields of which the inventor might not be aware. By pursuing all business directions, we can maximize the potential commercial value of our client’s innovative technology and inventions.

We then use this information to prepare and file patent application documents.

In the case of international applications, we help our clients obtain foreign patent rights in accordance with PCT (the Patent Cooperation Treaty) or the Paris Convention. We are also happy to prepare patent applications based on Japanese application documents prepared by other law firms.

To summarize, our service includes:

• Consulting with individual clients
• Counseling and licensing advice
• Securing patent protection
• Processing client requests for re-examination, reissue, appeal, interference, maintenance and extension of patent terms
• Liaise with Japan Patent Office and the Ministry of Justice on behalf of our clients
• Investigate and process litigation claims
• High quality translation

We also offer some exceptional services, detailed in Activities, which distinguish Kawakita & Associates from other patent law firms. These services include promoting client inventions at national and international patent events. This is especially helpful for small companies and individuals, and means that size is not necessarily a bar to success in the world of intellectual property!

Patent Application Procedure

Our philosophy at Kawakita and Associates is that size is not a bar to success in the world of intellectual property, so contact us now if you have an original idea you would like to patent.

We work closely with our clients, not only to achieve their business goals as promptly and cost-effectively as possible, but also to identify other potential markets outside the clients business expertise to maximize the scope of the patent.

Our typical procedure for obtaining patents